Galleries First is now my second home at London Heathrow. Although the lounge can fill up quickly, the service is perfect and the brightness and view of the runways are a big plus of this lounge.
As a reminder, here is the itinerary followed:
Check-in and ground experience
The day before departure, I do my antigen self-test at home. Once the negative result is obtained, I upload my result on the VeriFLY application, used by British Airways to check passengers’ COVID documents.
A few minutes later, I get the green light and can check in on the mobile application.
I print my boarding pass, my COVID documents and also add the boarding pass to the Passbook application.
A priori, no SSSS mention, which means that my one day return trip day on two separate tickets was not considered suspicious by the authorities. Strange, because Kristof will have this mention while he is in the same case.
I then booked an Uber scheduled for 5:00 am, about 3.5 hours before the flight departure. It will be on time, and I will arrive near the J check-in area of Heathrow terminal 5 a little less than 3 hours before the flight.
I show my credentials at the entrance of The First Wing, then head to a check-in counter.
Even if I have a valid boarding pass, I must have my passport information verified. These are checked promptly, a paper boarding pass is given to me and I pass through security in a few seconds.
Again, no SSSS mention on the boarding pass. Bien.
Once in the lounge, I hear my name on the speaker… I’m upgraded to Club World! These are not the new suites, but it’s already better than the old J (admittedly Full Flat) at BA!
Location
The Galleries First lounge is located in the south lounge area of Heathrow T5, Gate A.
It is accessible either directly by private security (which I used today), or via the terminal, mainly for connecting passengers.
Lounge design
The lounge design does not change, and is equivalent to all BA lounges on the platform. Sober, but quite elegant. It’s not the Air France La Première lounge, but it’s not bad.
Catering offer
The catering offer is very complete, and available at the seat. To its credit, COVID has raised the level of service and that’s fine.
I would order salmon scrambled eggs on toast, along with a double espresso and some pastries.
Bottom line
An excellent lounge, not really First, but much better than Galleries Club!
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